


Mischief and Mirrors

by Nonexistenz, Rabentochter



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alliances, Allies With Benefits, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bickering, Canon Divergence - Post - Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Determined Loki (Marvel), Determined Tony Stark, Developing Relationship, Difficult Decisions, Digital Art, Happy Ending, Human Disaster Tony Stark, Humor, Light Angst, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki’s punishments (Marvel), M/M, Mirror Dimension (Marvel), Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark-centric, Trust, Warning: Loki (Marvel), Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, from enemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28774077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonexistenz/pseuds/Nonexistenz, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: For his attempt to rule Midgard, Odin banishes Loki into the Mirror Dimension where he can no longer harm a living soul, sentenced to watch how life carries on without him.Tony Stark however, fears he’s going insane as he starts to see something moving in his mirror.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 111
Kudos: 289
Collections: Marvel Reverse Big Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had the great honour of writing a fic for the amazing art **Nonexistenz** did 👀🙌  
> Thanks a lot to **YourSelenite** for betaing, and to **NamelesslyNightlock** to plot with me ❤️
> 
> I'll post a chapter every fourth day - the final chapter will be posted on January 31st :D

Odin looked as tired as Loki felt.

That wasn’t fair of him, if one bothered to ask Loki but rarely anyone did so these days, so he saved his breath for other issues which were of far more pressing nature. Like that he had escaped Lady Death _again_ , that he was still alive despite having a Kursed Blade thrust through his chest. It needed to be said that while it might have been a desperate attempt of the foul beast to hurt him, it had been a clever attempt to strike where it hurt someone the most.

The question was if that _someone_ was Thor but Loki doubted it since—

Well. It had taken his brother a year to find his way into the royal dungeon if he could trust his memories of all these boring days, blended into one grey mess of white and gold, and the occasional sneering guard. Then, Thor couldn’t even be bothered with doing something for Loki while he’d been dead, simply left him there on Svartalfheim; the corpse of one monster amongst many of another race. Perhaps it had been perceived as a fitting grave.

Odin also seemed to have troubles deciding what to do with him; now that Loki was on Asgard once more. The matter was rather easy to say for Loki: To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream. And he had avenged Mother, Norns guard her soul. He had saved Thor from a too early death and ensured that his mortal lover would stay with him.

“Speak, Odin, or have the ravens swallowed your tongue?”

Odin’s silence kept on, his eyes on Loki’s felt heavier than him trying to lift Mjölnir in younger days, when everything still had been easy, the Realms in reach for him. The truth was that Loki wanted to go and sleep, sleep for so long that when he woke up, Odin would be long since buried, and the Mad Titan would be a faint memory which no longer stirred terror in other’s hearts.

“If I’m for the executioner, then speak your mind, old man.” His voice was full of acerbity, and he saw, with no small amount of pride, the other flinch. Loki tilted his head, waiting for an answer. It spoke volumes to him that they were not in the Throne Room like when he’d last been judged, but instead were in the healer’s wing. Loki chained to the bed while Eir had looked over him and declared him, “Alive but I wouldn’t say _well_ ,” in her usual dry voice. It spoke of more fondness towards him than any love Odin could have had in his hardened heart for Loki.

“Must you always make light of everything, Loki?”

He arched a brow, pointedly looked down on himself and the cuffs, then back to Odin.

“We can’t all be as grave as the All-Father is,” he replied mockingly. He knew better than to play _civil_ with the All-Father or to be contrite. And if this was his last day – _again,_ he wanted to add here– then he would prefer to go down with the laughter on his side. “As it seems it only slows down your responses,” he couldn’t stop himself from adding.

Nobody laughed at his joke.

He demonstratively made himself more comfortable on the pillow and honoured the ceiling with his gaze, for the All-Father had no longer earned his respect of holding eye-contact with him.

“Last time it was Frigga who stopped me from sending you to the Executioner,” Odin started. It annoyed Loki how unconcerned the All-Father sounded. Had he not been thought of as his _son_ for centuries? But perhaps Loki was trying to give the old king too much credit. After all, now that Loki knew of what slumbered beneath his skin he was currently wearing, was it truly so much of a surprise that Odin mayhaps played him like a fiddle, disregarded him in Thor’s favour and had him be content with Frigga’s company? But let him believe he was a son of the House of Odin?

 _A well-played trick_ , Loki had to admit.

“This time, you sent yourself to your execution and failed.” The bluntness made Loki grit his teeth.

“I don’t think that sentencing you to die will have the desired result,” Odin continued as if he wasn’t aware of what he said. That he was once more confirming all that Loki had thought, and he admired the cunningness of Odin’s word choice there.

“But locking you into your cell again would be too kind.”

 _Too kind._ Loki gagged at the thought. Centuries, if not more, to spend in eternal boredom; with nothing to distract him except for his destroyed items. He’d been going mad in there. If it had been any longer then—

Odin didn’t know what he was saying and for once, Loki was rather glad for it.

“I will send you away to the Mirror Dimension.”

The funny thing about this was, that Loki had no idea what the Mirror Dimension was supposed to be — except for not being this Dimension anymore.

But before he could say something, Odin was already slamming the staff into the ground and Loki was falling through the dimensions.

**I**

Tony yawned as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. It was nine in the morning. He’d gone to bed about three hours ago as per usual. He was tired, but that wasn’t anything a strong coffee couldn’t fix or maybe seven espressos in one go. He couldn’t have gone to bed any earlier, no matter if JARVIS reminded him that he had an appointment tomorrow at Stark Industries about a new client Pepper wanted to impress with him— he had been in the moment and not willing to give that up.

He’d finally found a way to make the arc reactor technology for buildings so kid-safe that he wouldn’t need to fear some Vanko popping up to abuse the arc reactor. Not, that there wasn’t any possibility left, _there was_ if you put your brain behind it but—

At least it finally met the EU’s ridiculous safety standards. He didn’t want to think about China’s yet, that would be another matter entirely. Yet, the dream to supply the biggest Stark Industry branches with 100% with green energy was so close. Tony could already smell the champagne that would flow in his honour. Sweet laughter echoing in the grand room, people coming up to him to flirt and whisper honeyed words in his ear. Pepper who’d laugh and charm the entire room with her presence and wag a finger at him not to overdo it.

Ah, he was glad that he had Pepper in his life.

Tony was finally dressed when he went up to the sink to take a look at his face, if he looked presentable when—

Green eyes looked out at him from the mirror.

Tony screamed in fear. Stumbled back, back—

His heart was racing, beating up to his ears. Cold shivers ran down his spine.

There’d been eyes in the mirror. Eyes that weren’t his.

“Oh my fucking—” he cursed and gathered his wits about him. His heart was still beating too fast. It had a reasonable excuse though. He clenched his fists and stepped back up to the mirror.

There was nothing to be seen there.

Only his own image. Big, brown eyes that stared widely into his. He looked almost crazy with how pale he was all of a sudden, too. The mirror started to fog from his breath. Slowly, as if he didn’t want to scare his own reflection, Tony raised a hand. It felt like something was going to happen the moment his fingertips touched the mirror, the tension was palpable in the room; in the stiffness of his limbs.

The glass felt cold against his touch.

Nothing happened.

“You’re an idiot, Tony,” he muttered beneath his breath. “Already starting to see things. Maybe a coffee before the shower would have been better.” While Tony tried to soothe himself, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. He didn’t _see things_ , usually. Unless you counted the times he was drunk, but he thought that these were other circumstances. He was sober right now. Only didn’t catch enough sleep but that was what he had assumed was _normal_ for him. His head was used to being in much more difficult situations.

He turned away from the mirror to brush his teeth, to give— whatever that had been in the mirror— a chance to come back. Let it think itself in safety while Tony avoided eye-contact with it.

Then, when he couldn’t make teeth brushing believable anymore—

He looked up and into the mirror.

_Nothing._

“All right.” He sighed, made his hair messier on purpose, then left for the kitchen to get a coffee before he joined Pepper at Stark Industries. Yet, despite having checked the mirror, Tony couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had seen those eyes. He wasn’t… someone prone to hallucinations, more of a nightmare type. Also, when he was more tired than one should be, he heard electrical devices humming on a volume that gave him migraines. He tapped the gas pedal with more force than necessary, speeding up, not caring that he was driving faster than it was allowed. If this was an attempt to flee from his own home, then Tony wanted to do that properly. The further away he was from his mirror, the better.

The meeting had already begun when he arrived fashionably late. Pepper’s unimpressed stare didn’t make him flinch when it usually had that effect on him. The vision was still clinging to his mind with all its might. Fear wasn’t something Tony took lightly—

 _Ha!_ He snorted at himself. He gave fear the cold shoulder on the daily, every hour, every minute. It might have been a reason why being Iron Man gave him such a kick; to fly when and wherever he wanted, to help people, and to kick bad guys’ asses.

Being Iron Man was so amazing that he simply had no time to be afraid.

Unless of course, you counted the earlier instance.

Tony was getting lost in his mind, the nonsense the others were rambling and Pepper’s sweet and honeyed words were starting to become a background noise as he stared at the presentation. Someone had seriously taken the time to make a PowerPoint? He was impressed, on a low level. It looked good at first glance, the second had him noticing that the font changed size in the text about three times. Did it need to be said that it annoyed him? But it was good enough to distract him as he mentally criticised the entire thing.

Because some people wore a suit did not mean they knew that more came with it. They could have asked any high schooler in New York if they could make them a PowerPoint, and the result would have been 1000% better. That being said, he should ask Pepper if that could be a thing at Stark Industries. Making PowerPoints during internships. Yep, Tony liked the way that rolled off his tongue. He took a mental note to ask Pepper about it when the meeting ended which should be in a few minutes, if Tony was correct.

“You were late. _Again,”_ Pepper started their conversation off when they were alone in the meeting room.

“Tony Stark always arrives precisely the moment he’s meant to,” he replied and offered a grin. “By the way, what did you think about the PowerPoint?”

“A disaster.” Her mouth twitched.

“We should see if our interns are better at that.” Tony tilted his head. “I want to have a cool PowerPoint from us at the next meeting. Like really _wow,_ and _boom_ ; an Iron Man can come flying in from the side! ACDC gets played when we turn to the next page and—”

“Tony.”

“Too much?” He asked only half-jokingly. He liked the idea of an animated Iron Man on presentations. Let the people know exactly who they’re dealing with here.

“Too much,” she replied. “How were you planning on making it up to me that you came late despite promising to be on time?”

Tony’s mind started to race. He had his car here, parked right at the entrance door, he could—

“Let me take you out to dinner? I had the weirdest fucking experience after I got out of the shower, it’s like—”

“Dinner sounds great but I’m not sure if a restaurant is the place to talk about– that problem?” She said, extremely carefully to Tony’s ears.

 _Interesting._ He mentally replayed what he’d said. Then— “ _Ooooh.”_ Followed by, “No! No, no, I _promise_ it’s all good down there with my buddy, it’s— something else. Pepper, how could you think that I—” He was gaping at her, all of a sudden at a loss for words. “That’s insulting,” he added pointedly. “I should sue you for thinking badly about my ability to get it up after a shower and have you pay.”

Pepper started laughing before she got up and offered him her arm. Had he mentioned yet that he loved taking her arm? It made him want to suddenly start running to see if she’d been counting on that and would keep up with him.

Kidding.

He led her to the car. They had some time left after the meeting had ended sooner than expected. Tony blamed it on the horrible PowerPoint Presentation. The blame was definitely on that, not him running late and demonstrating blatant disinterest in something nobody wanted to see in technology anyway. The fact that Tony couldn’t recall what it had been about anymore was more than telling.

“What happened, Tony?” Pepper interrupted him as he was rambling on the drive to a small diner.

“I—” He narrowed his eyes at the steering wheel. “Look, it’s– I _know_ this is going to sound weird, I promise I’m not mad or anything. But I—” He licked his lips nervously, trying to calm himself as he felt anxious that Pepper wouldn’t take him seriously; that he was spiralling again for no apparent reason.

“Doesn’t matter,” he forced out through gritted teeth. “Do you like the new feature on Stark Industries’ website?”

“Tony.” Her voice was calm but stern. A typical Pepper-Potts-Voice. Tony loved it. He loved it especially when it wasn’t directed at him because it made him want to sit up straighter in his seat, check if he had locked the doors properly, and the car lights turned on. There was more than one reason why this woman was one of his closest friends _and_ the CEO of Stark Industries, and it wasn’t only because she rocked pencil skirts which she did but— _hey_.

“I thought I saw someone else’s eyes in my mirror.” The confession slipped from his mouth without his permission, lured out by the promise of safety that was Pepper’s voice. Something inside of him cringed and died on the spot. He stared at the street. Didn’t dare to breathe too loudly in Pepper’s direction. Maybe she’d just forget about it—?

“I didn’t sleep a lot,” he continued, the eyes still on the street as if he was pleading with the road to open up and swallow him whole like some whale had done in some book. It would be— so good, so perfect, and amazing, he might even start to believe in some kind of higher power if that happened right now.

But the street remained whole. Tony might have been staring at the wrong kind of abyss. This one seemed to obey Fury because only SHIELD was such a hassle these days. Oh, that reminded him, SHIELD had sent him an email a few days ago which he needed to look at before the year was up.

”I must have imagined things.”

Pepper was silent next to him. Nonetheless, her thoughts were so loud that it was for Tony as if she was screaming at him. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, waiting for her to voice her thoughts, her doubtless concern.

“Maybe you really didn’t sleep long enough,” finally came from her, gentle. “It happens to all of us that we imagine seeing things that aren’t there.” Her hand rested on his thigh and she squeezed it.

It was oddly assuring to hear her confirm his ramblings. Maybe— maybe she was right.

Tony took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from overthinking everything. He hadn’t slept enough. End of story. A few moments later, he stopped the car in front of a restaurant.

“You’re right.” He turned towards her and gifted her a smile. “Now, we were talking about hunger?”

Pepper laughed and got out of the car with him. Tony’s stomach was already telling him exactly how hungry he was.

When Tony returned home later that day, he felt lighter around his heart and his steps were quicker. To be honest, he felt like he was flying as he got out of his car and strolled down to his workshop, ready to work on his car again. Spending time with Pepper almost always put him in a good mood. It was relieving to know that their breakup after their lets-try-a-relationship-out-tryst had worked out well, that going back to being only friends was easier than writing a bug for Hammer Industries’ site.

His fingers flew over the keyboard of his hologram, searching for an _inspiration_ to strike. To be fair, it was possibly _impossibly_ rude of him to want to fix a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in the first place but Tony knew cars better than the insides of his pockets. The desire to take cars apart, see what they’re made of, to get a _feeling_ for them, to hear the engine purr for him like a kitten— the only thing better than that was an amazing blowjob and Tony had had the best of the best.

But the car had been a gift from himself _to himself_ because hey, he only had a birthday once a year. Also, it was the year 2013. Last year he’d been living through an alien invasion and most of his cars were now homes for fish. He deserved a car.

The only thing he wasn’t going to touch was the paint because while it was no longer the original paint job, the red was _iconic._ Bright and angry, the hazard lights were such an aggressive yellow tone— it reminded him of his Mark II. Tony _loved_ that baby, therefore it was only logical that he loved this car too.

He got lost in reading an article about controlling your home from your mobile phone while you were _in_ the car. And while he didn’t need a mobile for that any longer, he—

“J, buddy?”

_“Sir?”_

“How do you feel about getting integrated into the Ferrari?” Tony mused out loud. “Total control from there over the house. You’re free to do what you want. I’d have to add an extra interface, get another satellite into space—” he stopped for a second, “is NASA planning on sending some satellites into space in the next few days? Stark Industries could sponsor them and—”

 _“A satellite is being launched in two weeks,”_ JARVIS interrupted him politely. For a second, it made Tony’s heart ache as it reminded him of _his_ Jarvis from his old days— _“I’m sure that something can be arranged. Do you want me to write a message?”_

A break.

“ _I can send it from the Ferrari already, if you’d like me to?”_

“The sass, J.” Tony snorted. “I was thinking of giving you a longer distance reach. Let’s say I’m hanging out with my beauty in— _Moscow,_ and I want to be back home in twelve hours, taking the short route, and the idea comes to me while I’m driving—”

_“Sir, how are you planning on taking the car back home? Plane transport?”_

Tony pondered over that for a fraction of a second. Then, a smile broke out on his face and he was sure he looked like an absolute maniac. “What if we turn the car into an Iron Man suit?”

_“Sir, are you serious.”_

“No, no.” Tony waved JARVIS off. “I’m Tony Stark, I’m _never_ serious. All right. Iron Man suit flying car. Easy. And that baby will be the car.” He pointed at the car that had cost him some mere $48.8 million which he was planning on taking apart _again_. “That’ll be _the shit_ , J.”

_“I suppose so.”_

Tony could hear JARVIS’ sigh. “Good, let’s get planning.” He licked his lips as new excitement was swelling up in him, growing like a teenager hitting puberty. _A flying car._ Howard’s plans for a flying car were floating in front of his inner eyes and it made Tony _laugh_. He couldn’t believe that Howard would have thought that he’d invent a flying car one day.

That wasn’t the mission of a man who lived for war; no, this was the mission of a man who lived and worked for the future. A man like Tony just happened to be. He knew the laws of gravitation, had a rough formula in his head how he had managed to make his Iron Man suits fly. It wouldn’t need much from there to make a car fly. A flying car was _nothing_ compared to what he’d already created in his short time as a superhero.

That was how Tony got lost in his own planning; one hand was flying over the keyboard in breathtaking speed while the other was sketching a combination of an Iron Man suit and a car. The challenging aspect wasn’t to make the car fly — it was to make the car look good as well when it would be the _Iron Car._

_Okay, he definitely needed a better name for that. Later._

The sun was already tickling his nose when Tony felt like he’d done enough for today.

“Clear my schedule for the rest of the day,” he whispered to JARVIS in a quiet voice. Sleep was a pressing concern, and Tony was debating if he should just crash on the couch in his workshop. But the mattress, well— he knew how uncomfortable the thing could be, he’d bought it with the intention to use it only when he had pressing deadlines and couldn’t allow himself too much sleep.

He squinted at the innocently looking mattress and compared it to his desire to sleep in a warm and comfortable place tonight. At the end, he decided that he had earned the right of a good rest in his bed. The way to his bed was longer than he remembered it and to make up for it, Tony started to take his clothes off already; planning on just falling into his comfortable blankets and sleep—


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

Tony woke up the next day feeling well rested. It was unusual for him to sleep through the night and not wake up, and he couldn’t even remember what he’d dreamt. A bonus, in his opinion.

When he made it to the bathroom, Tony was staring at a face in the mirror that wasn’t his.

Green eyes bore into his, a smile, so sly and full of confidence—

Phantom pain blossomed in Tony's throat. He felt the air get thinner. The lack of oxygen was burning his lungs. It didn't help that he was gasping for breath, hoping to draw in enough air. 

The weight of Loki’s stare on him made Tony step back until his back hit the door. He couldn't avert his gaze from the vision, this— this _nightmare_ in his bathroom. 

Tony found enough wit to be grateful he was wearing some pants and wasn't naked. But for all that he wasn’t wearing many clothes, it didn't make any difference in the end– because here he was, Tony Stark, Iron Man, facing a deadly enemy without a single, solitary weapon.

_"No!"_ Tony almost yelled. Loki flinched in the mirror, the smirk wavered. 

Tony's fist hit the mirror, and it shattered upon impact. 

Splinters, a dozen, hundreds, tore up his hand. Pain thundered through him as his nerves were cut open. Blood was dripping on the floor and into the sink. 

Tony felt– faint. 

There was a hint of green in the larger part of the mirror that hadn't been shattered; Tony crashed his fist into it with no further thought. Panic had him in its grip, steely and would not let go of him– he broke the mirror's surface again. 

Then again. 

Again. 

Until nothing remained of the mirror and if Loki was still there, well— 

_Then he knew what was going to greet him_. A huff of satisfaction left Tony's lips as he admired the result. He'd need to replace the mirror if JARVIS wasn't already on that. 

Only slowly did the pain settle in from where he'd crashed his fist repeatedly into the mirror. But nothing moved or blinked anymore — it had been worth the pain. “ _Fuck,”_ he cursed loudly. Then, again, “ _Fucking hell!”_

That had been fucking _Loki_ in his mirror. Fucking wanna-be-conqueror Loki who wanted to subjugate New York and had—

Everything inside of Tony started to explode. Not in fear, he’d progressed past the fear stage. This time, it was nothing but anger that coursed through him and he stormed out of the bathroom. Ran towards his living room where he knew he’d kept something, something for an emergency—

And this? This was more than just a mere emergency.

The _just-in-case-gauntlet_ laid on the couch behind a pillow. Tony grabbed it, pulled it on, let the mechanics hide his hand. He turned his head to the left, to the right, eyes full of suspicion—

Just waiting for Loki to appear in his humble abode. Strut through the room as if it was his, as if he had nothing to fear, no retribution to face. _Wasn’t he supposed to be in a dungeon?_ When Tony would see Thor again, he’d make him wish Loki was the smallest of his problems. _How could Thor not have told them?_

Curiosity piqued at Tony why Loki was in a fucking _mirror_. But the thought all too soon disappeared, worthless and small in comparison to the anger boiling inside of him that Loki had the gall to come back into his life like that. Had laughed at him as if he had nothing to fear.

The gauntlet closed around Tony’s hand. The feeling of it, so achingly familiar, made him feel comforted. Not as alone anymore as he was a breath ago. Loki could come _now_ ; Tony was ready. He’d beaten Reindeer Games before, he could do it again. There were enough windows to pick one.

His heart rate was calming down from the frantic beating, coming quickly to a slow beat. Tony could have heard the wind whistling at this moment if there’d be any.

_Nothing_ was moving. Nothing was out of the ordinary here. It was only him, in his house.

Loki seemed to have gotten the clear and pointed hint to stay away.

Tony kind of regretted Loki’s decision. Finally, it would have been fun for him and now—? He was being deprived of the fun part, had only got the scary part.

But maybe he needed to make the first move? Tony’s eyes focused on the door he’d crashed through a few minutes before.

Said, done. Tony quietly made his way through his own home, careful so as not to make any treacherous noise. It was _embarrassing_ , somewhere, that he was fearful in his own four walls, but he didn’t want to give Loki an unfair advantage. If it was at all possible, then Tony wanted to have surprise on his side – this time. Yet, the house was eerily quiet and even JARVIS refused to comment on anything; the phone in Tony’s pocket was at a low vibration.

If there was a _detectable_ threat nearby, then it would start vibrating stronger before it would stop altogether. But nothing of that sort happened.

The bathroom door was open. Nothing had changed from what Tony could see.

The mirror was broken apart, shards were laying all over the floor.

He stepped inside of the room cautiously, the gauntlet ready to fire within a moment’s notice.

The mirror only showed himself. The shards a perfect reflection of the ceiling. There was no Loki. There was no sinister smile, only Tony and the bathroom.

If he hadn’t seen what he’d seen, then Tony would probably tell himself he needed a stiff drink and forget about it until later. Drink himself into oblivion.

But— he _knew_ Loki had been there.

He picked up a shard, glared into it vehemently.

“I know you’re in there, Reindeer Games,” he said so sweetly that a bee would have found his voice attractive. “You can’t hide forever in this pitiful shard.”

Nothing moved. Tony’s blazing eyes challenged his own.

Not a shred of green to be seen.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

The bathroom became a rather frequently visited room. Not because Tony hoped to see Loki again, _oh no._ Tony was rather fond of the idea of flashing Loki, so excessive showers became a thing. JARVIS thought he’d lost his mind, but when did his AI _ever_ think he was not in any way unhinged? Nowadays, Tony took a gauntlet with him in the shower and admittedly, it took him a bit to figure out how to make sure the metal wouldn’t be too harsh on his skin but eventually, he managed even that.

He was Tony Stark and a genius, thank you very much.

Currently a stark-naked genius, admittedly, but Tony was admiring himself in the recently replaced mirror. _Admiring,_ that might have taken it a bit too far but he could honestly say that what he saw there, wasn’t unpleasant to look at.

_He needed to trim his goatee soon,_ he realised when his gaze wandered up to his face. The eye bags were as dark and heavy as always, nothing unusual there, but the goatee started to look like Tony didn’t care about it. Baby hairs were starting to appear at the cleanly cut edges. While some might have called this appearance _ruggedly handsome,_ Tony only wanted to reach for his razors and take care of them.

He stepped closer to the mirror, wrapping the towel loosely around his hips as he did so and eyed the baby hairs. If they were too small, then the likelihood of him nicking himself with the blade was too high. And almost nothing was as troublesome as having a cut on his own face. Tony spoke from experience there.

And perhaps, perhaps he had known that this was the precise moment that Loki would appear again in the mirror because that’s what Thor’s little brother did. He was all big and evil, the smirk played around his mouth, his eyes trained on Tony’s.

“Well, hello there,” Tony said pleasantly and cocked his head to a side. “Long time no see.”

Loki looked thrown for a second before he got hold of his face again, the muscles back to doing what he wished them to do. _Spoiled prince._

“So.” Tony poked the mirror with his nails, made them scratch along the glass. It filled him with pleasure seeing Loki scrunch his face at that sound. It wasn’t a great sound to Tony’s ears either but _hey,_ he wasn’t one to play fair. “Don’t like it?” He asked.

Loki arched an eyebrow in response and okay— _point taken._

Tony just loved rubbing something under people’s noses, especially when he could do the rubbing part himself. Almost casually, Tony lifted the gauntleted arm and pointed it at Loki’s visage.

“Now, you and I are going to have a chat,” Tony suggested. “You can hear me in there, right?” Suddenly grabbed by the worry that Loki _couldn’t,_ and his plan would fail already at step 1.

Loki gave a short nod in response and made a _hit-me-with-it-you-handsome-man_ gesture with his fingers. Admittedly, Loki probably didn’t mean the gesture to come across like that, but since he wasn’t _talking_ , Tony felt free to interpret Loki’s finger language however he wanted. Not as if anyone was going to stop him.

“Why are you stalking me in my _mirror?”_ was Tony’s first interrogation question. A second later he wanted to hit himself over the face. What a great way to start this _chat_. By asking _questions._ Tony wanted to sink into the ground because honestly, what a beginner’s mistake. One always started by making threats and being intimidating, weasel the information out of the other. Romanoff had shown him how to do that.

A grin started to spread on Loki’s face. Tony hated it.

“I’m merely visiting you, Stark,” Loki said from the mirror and okay, yes. _That sounded odd._ As if Loki’s voice was being sent through a long pipe and came out distorted on the other side.

Tony scrunched his face, tightened the towel around his hip with his free hand. “Visiting would imply that I knew about your visit beforehand, Joker.”

“I announced my visit though, didn’t I?” It was Loki’s turn to tilt his head and look at Tony like a puppy. “After all, haven’t you been waiting for me to come back the last few days?”

“You’ve been watching me,” Tony summarised quietly. His thoughts were starting to race. _If Loki knew that but hadn’t shown himself— did that mean Loki didn’t have to stand in front of a mirror to see him?_ The thought left him with a cold shiver running down his spine, his hairs standing up. The towel around his hips felt like a mere mockery of the armour he usually wore.

“I have,” Loki confirmed, his voice quiet.

It became almost inaudible for Tony through the distortion. Nonetheless, the effect it had on him was greater — Tony heard his heart speeding up at the horror-vibe the voice had now. It reminded him of all these great horror movies, where the monster spoke quietly and everyone needed to huddle around a radio or TV to hear about how they could survive, and more often than not he wanted them to slaughter each other. _That_ was what this situation reminded him of.

Tony needed a second to recall that _he_ was the one with a weapon in the hand _; not Loki._ He was the one in charge.

“Did you enjoy the view?” Tony sneered at the mirror.

“I don’t care for the view,” Loki answered.

The gauntlet powered up at that threat.

“Be at peace, Stark,” Loki tried to placate him. “I am not one to threaten others.”

“Oh?” Tony said in a mockery of disbelief. “Funny, I thought that’s what you did last year.”

He saw Loki’s mouth twitch. “That was last year, Stark.”

“Damn right, it was.” Tony leant forward until his forehead almost touched the cold surface. “I haven’t forgotten about that yet, Snivelus.”

“I see.” Loki raised his arms slowly. “If you don’t wish to listen then I shan’t bother you much longer, Stark.”

“ _Listen?”_ Tony felt his jaw drop to the ground. “You want to tell _me_ something?”

“Of course.” Loki made it sound so obvious, so glaringly obvious that Tony wanted to destroy the new mirror. He held himself back, even if it was a tight race. “That is why I’m here.”

The audacity took Tony’s breath. Loki wanted to _tell him_ something. Acting as if he was the greatest man out there and had all the information but on what, he didn’t say, neither did he—

Tony narrowed his eyes at the trickster and drew back abruptly, crossed his arms over his chest. “Hit me with it.”

“Eloquent,” he heard Loki mutter quietly. “Do you remember the Chitauri, Stark?”

_“Yes,”_ Tony gritted out between clenched teeth. His hands were twitching with the want to shoot at something or someone, he wasn’t feeling picky right now. “What about them?”

“They’re coming back.”

The words echoed inside of Tony’s head like a bad song.

He shot the mirror as panic was starting to take over him and everything became foggy.


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

Loki’s words wouldn’t leave Tony alone. They sat there inside of his brain like stubborn asses, chewed at his walls whenever he thought he’d gotten over it. Whenever Tony walked back into his bathroom and he was _dressed_ , Loki appeared as if Tony had been calling him. He hadn’t but it seemed that was beside the point. Loki only watched him quietly, didn’t speak, didn’t ask Tony for anything, neither did he make a move to threaten him.

Loki was a silent watcher. Tony could feel his eyes on him as he ignored him and shaved his goatee, when he fixed his hair to a finely tousled mess brought into shape. He was a master at ignoring others but Loki was a master at being a silent judge. Tony _felt_ the judgement when he turned his back to the Trickster and walked out of the room.

He knew it was unwise to ignore Loki and his words. After all, if Loki was right then the Chitauri _were_ going to come back. That sucked. A lot. But accepting it would mean that Tony believed Loki’s words and _Einstein,_ it drove Tony mad that Loki was in _his mirror._ Why his and not someone else’s? Was it because Tony had the fanciest one that showed one the deepest secrets of one pore? Was Loki that much of a peacock?

Nonetheless, the fear that Loki _could_ be right sat atop Tony’s shoulders and was with him all the time. Rhodey commented recently that he looked much more worn down than he’d been last week, if anything had happened? Tony thought about talking about what had happened, but each and every time, he found himself making a joke about how he was trying to lose weight than to address what was plaguing him and stealing his sleep.

Because that’s what it did. Sleep was eluding him and he spent more time down in his workshop than he did at clubs or SI galas. The workshop gave him a false sense of security and the Iron Car was steadily taking on new shape and form. It was rather lovely to watch; the motor oil stains on his hands were now like ink for a tattoo that had no clear figure. _An abstract piece of work like DUM-E was._

Tony clenched the mug in his hands, casting a sorrowful glance at the emptiness inside before he looked back to the holograms.

“J?” he asked tiredly. “Give me what we and SHIELD have on the Chitauri. On Loki. On the attack. I want to know everything that could point at them coming back to Earth. Do we have contact with Thor?”

_“Mr Odinson is currently off-planet,”_ JARVIS informed him regretfully. _“It is unknown when he will return. He’s been gone since the Planet Alignment in London in April this year.”_

Tony nodded. “That was two months ago. He should be back soon.” The words sounded wrong even to him. There’d be no Thor. Not for a while longer. Thor, as funny and good as he was, was a rather unreliable ally. What good did it do to have a man on the team nobody could call when an alarm was ringing? Tony snorted and swallowed down the bitterness; it wasn’t Thor’s fault that he was still praised and loved on the team even in his absence when Tony was still struggling to feel… accepted and welcomed there. He was _there_ , available but the Avengers were—

“ _It is unclear if the ship in the wormhole was the last one remaining,”_ JARVIS interrupted his musings. _“There is a chance that there were more Chitauri than we realised.”_

“Fuck.”

Tony hit his head on the desk.

“I won’t—” he gave the hologram a stink eye, “I won’t get around talking to Loki, will I?”

_“I fear that this might be the case if you want to learn more, Sir.”_ If Tony was to judge it then he’d say that JARVIS enjoyed the idea more of being donated to a college than him talking to Loki again. That made him laugh although it was in a rather sardonic way.

“Time to face the devil.”

Tony went to his bathroom and politely hammered against the mirror with his fist.

Loki appeared in the mirror a few seconds later, a scowl on his face. _Probably didn’t like to be called to appear,_ Tony thought with great amusement because, fact was that Loki _still_ had appeared.

“Stark.”

“Loki.” He offered him a grin, big and gummy, so that it brightened the whole room. “I’m ready to listen.” He tipped his imaginary hat. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Loki’s gaze seemed to pierce through Tony’s soul if he even had one. But should he have one, then Tony was sure that it was rather dead at this point.

“Now you feel like listening to me?”

“Is that not what I just said?” Tony tsk’ed. “I don’t have the time for this nonsense, just spill the beans, Antlers.”

Loki’s annoyance was palatable through the mirror. “You have wasted enough days too.”

_Wasted. Me?_ Tony mouthed soundlessly, earning himself a stink eye from Loki.

“The Chitauri are another means to bring destruction to the Nine,” Loki started, only to be immediately interrupted by Tony, “What are the Nine?”

“The realm your precious planet resides in.”

“Like the Milky Way then?” Tony asked mostly for shits and giggles.

Loki’s face turned pensive. Tony resisted the urge to blow on the surface of the mirror and draw a penis on it.

“It is a smaller part of Yggdrasil.”

“Of what.”

“Yggdrasil.” Loki looked irritated. “The tree—”

“A tree,” Tony repeated flatly. “Are you fucking with me?” He asked then. “Because if you are, I’m going to leave this second. I can also waste my time elsewhere and get drunk while doing so.”

“I’m not _fucking_ with you,” Loki said coldly. “But if you were to shut up and simply _listen_ ; maybe your questions would be resolved before I’d have to explain everything over and over.”

“No such luck, Megamind.” Tony eyed the edge of the bathtub, considering sitting down there before he was going to stand in front of his own mirror for hours. “I’ve never been one of the quiet kind.”

“That’s the impression you’re giving off too, yes,” Loki snapped. “I can leave any time, Stark.”

“Can you though?” Tony asked before he could keep his mouth shut. _Ah well_. There it was. Out in the air, hanging between them like the blade of an onion’s executioner. “Because I have the distinct impression you _enjoy_ being inside of my mirror.”

“Your mirror?” Something flashed up inside of Loki’s eyes. “So it _is_ the Mirror Dimension Odin has trapped me in.”

“Wait, Odin knows that you’re not on Asgard anymore?”

“Of course, he threw me in here after all.”

“Does Thor know too?”

“I’d be surprised if he did,” Loki conceded and an almost embarrassed look graced his face. “The Chitauri don’t wait, Stark. Are you done with your interrogation?”

“To be honest, I’m not.” Tony cracked his finger knuckles.“But we can postpone it until after you’ve told me what you’re dying to say,” he added hastily when he saw Loki shooting daggers from his eyes at him.

_Always so aggressive, these villains._

The bomb that Loki dropped was— enormous. Gigantic.

Tony was at loss for words as Loki described the horror. Tony had known, he’d _known,_ that one day something bigger would come. Nothing ever came alone, there was _always_ something else. Or in this case, someone else. 

Loki was quiet while a storm was raging inside of Tony’s head. He watched with thinly veiled annoyance as Tony stood there, and _thought_. Perhaps he was one of those people who preferred a quick reaction to a thorough thinker, but maybe it was because Tony was cursing loudly and wouldn’t stop. 

It didn’t help. Newton help him, it didn’t do anything but oh— to curse out loud, it soothed something in Tony. Moments like these made him realise how absolutely idiotic he could be, how absolutely helpless. Instead of acting, he did everything else that was human possible, all in the name of avoiding the main task. 

“Are you done?” Loki eventually interrupted him. 

“No,” Tony replied. He felt all hot beneath his collar. “I’m not. But that’s okay, I’m never finished with my things.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, consciously took a deep breath before he faced Loki again. 

He didn’t feel ready for this. Not at all. But here he was, Tony Stark alias Iron Man, and– yeah, _allying_ with a man he’d considered his enemy only a few moments ago. 

“Now. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what do you propose we do about the big, bad baddy operating in space?”


	5. Chapter 5

**V**

Tony went to bed with his head spinning. There’d been a lot Loki had told him about their apparently common enemy and _by Marie Curie,_ if what Loki had said was true, then they were in deep trouble. There was so much _wrong_ with that Titan fellow. Tony wasn’t sure where to begin with all the issues in that flawed thinking. Where to stop, even less.

An _economical move_. He wanted to turn around in his bed, bury his head in the pillow and cry. An idiotic sentiment that wouldn’t gain him anything but waste necessary time but hey— he was only one guy too. Who apparently now had to take care of Earth and people because _nobody knew_ what was coming. 

Yet, nobody would believe him when he said that something was coming either, because he was Tony Stark, and _where_ did he get the information from? No.

He didn’t entirely trust Loki — to do so would be madness. But what Loki had said about the Chitauri made an awful lot of sense to him, it matched up his own suspicions that New York couldn’t have been the last of it, that a last wave would still follow. He should tell someone, explain it to SHIELD—

No, that would lead only to awkward questioning. SHIELD would label him as a traitor, try to get rid of him or shove him into a bunker somewhere and have the world believe he had an accident. Things like that happened fast. People tended to believe those things too. Also, to be fair, he was known for doing all kinds of wild and weird shit. Who was to say that he didn’t just go out and fall down a cliff because he was drunk? Nobody would doubt that.

No, this was on him alone.

 _He still had Loki._ Maybe working with him would be the better alternative—

Tony stared at the ceiling for a long moment; counted his heartbeats as he did so in the hope it would calm him down. He wasn’t anxious or anything but his head was _spinning_ and he hated it when it did that. Also made it impossible for him to sleep. Wasn’t that how he’d ended up here in the first place?

_No, that had been Loki decided to haunt his mirror._

“ _Fuck,”_ Tony cursed loudly. Nobody responded.

The ceiling stayed silent as well. And perhaps it was the silence that made him think of it in the first place but, what if he tried to get Loki out of the mirror? He sat up abruptly in his bed.

Then he would have _someone_ who knew things and be _there_. Not that he could trust Loki but—

Tony rubbed a hand over his face.

Could he afford to get Loki out and rely on his desire to see the other one destroyed as reason not to abandon him? Tony could maybe pull the stunt off on his own. But he, well. Needed Loki’s magic tricks sooner or later anyway for what they had planned unless he was going to waste time _and_ think of another plan entirely. Though if he did that, then he wouldn’t be able to rely on Loki’s intel anymore. Because — and Tony would bet his Iron Car on this — Loki would perceive that as a betrayal from his side and leave him be. Maybe try to find an ally elsewhere.

Do something or _nothing_ from inside of the mirror.

Tony wouldn’t put it past Loki to have counted on this outcome. _Shit,_ Loki had probably been aiming on getting free from the mirror from the beginning. Who the hell could begrudge him for that, though? Tony didn’t as much as he wished he could. Because nobody liked to be trapped somewhere, much less in a mirror. The Fairy Tale Vibe was too strong. Next time he saw Loki, he should ask him if he could sprout wings from his back.

_What if he made a deal with Loki?_

He’d do his best to get Loki out from the mirror dimension and when all was said and done, he’d let Loki leave without chasing after him. In return, Loki would stay with him until the space maniac was dealt with. _Maybe that would convince Loki to agree?_ Tony hoped so fervently.

The question was _how_ would he get Loki free from a mirror dimension?

Perhaps Loki knew how. Tony squinted into the darkness. Loki hadn’t known for sure it was the Mirror Dimension, if Tony recalled correctly. But he’d suspected it which meant that Loki had known beforehand about the Mirror Dimension being a real thing. His father had thrown him into it. Kind of fucked up as well but Tony ignored that. He had his own father issues to worry about and live with.

What if Loki knew how to get out, but couldn’t do it because he needed help from the outside? Tony’s heart started to beat faster as a picture started to form inside his head.

Loki had an enemy after him for failing the invasion. He wanted to be safe. He had his own family coming after him. Loki was _alone_. He knew that Tony had been in contact with outer space somehow – he’d probably been listening when they’d detained him and gone to get shawarma. What an idiotic move, come to think of it. Hilarious too, though.

Back to the topic at hand.

Loki was alone, trapped and couldn’t do anything but wait for his inevitable fate which most likely, wasn’t going to be full of sunshine and dancing unicorns puking rainbows. No. Then he found out that a fucking—

 _Portal_ led to Tony Stark’s house? Someone who had weapons at his disposal. Had sworn to defend Earth and if Tony defended Earth, then by extension, it could be assumed he’d defend the rest of the universe too if someone was coming after his planet. _Goodness._ Tony wasn’t going to exclude that there were others Loki could ask. The probability that there was only one portal? Unlikely. Where one hole was, two more were sure to follow.

Tony Stark. Avenger. Mirror. Propose an idea to get free from prison by making himself invaluable with his sparkling magic fingers and intel on the villain.

Tony sagged back into his pillows, rolling his eyes.

And here he was, labelling himself a genius when he’d almost walked into Loki’s trap without thinking too much about it; too caught up in the horror of the tale to read the fine print of the contract.

It was easier to fall asleep after coming to that conclusion.

After getting a coffee, Tony walked back down to his workshop, carrying the mirror with him. As soon as he’d put it down on the desk, Loki appeared. 

“Reindeer Games!” Tony greeted the other enthusiastically. “Long time, no see.”

“A mere five hours,” Loki replied smoothly.

“Long time for some.” Tony grinned, feeling confident in his approach. “Listen, I was thinking last night—”

“Incredible.”

Tony ignored that “—that you and me should have a little chat about what we’re going to do with this whole situation concerning us.”

“ _Us?”_

“Us.” Tony’s grin got broader and he took a sip from his coffee to make it more fun for himself. “How about I get you out of the mirror? In return you promise to help me to defeat your space friend.”

Loki didn’t say anything. He looked perplexed.

“Unless you can get out of your mirror prison as I suspect you _can_. Then I’d propose you get out of there and I promise I won’t ship you off to Asgard or make it known that you’re here, host you in my home. Same deal for you.”

 _That_ got him a different reaction. Loki started to laugh softly, shook his head gently. “I’m impressed, Stark.”

“Thank you,” Tony answered dryly. “I aim to please.”

“Oh my.” Loki chuckled. “Let us say, I _can_ get out of here and would agree to your deal. Would I be welcome to make my own addendum?”

“Theoretically, yes. But only for so long as it doesn’t—”

Loki lifted a finger. “That’s all I wanted to hear, Stark. You don’t have to run your mouth off with me.”

“Old habits die hard.” Tony raised a brow. “So, you agree?”

“I want you to promise me that you won’t make it known I’m here or helping you. To no breathing, living, or any kind of sentient being. That includes rocks.”

“Why would I want to talk to a rock?”

“I don’t want to give you any ideas.” Loki’s smile flattened. “I also want you to prevent Odin’s men from taking me.”

“For as long as we are allies.”

“Agreed.” Loki’s smile returned. “Odin’s men include Thor and all of his associates.”

“The Avengers aren’t Odin’s men.”

“Yet, Thor is.”

Tony nodded slowly. “All right. For as long we are allies I won’t tell anyone that you’re here and stop anyone from taking you. Unless it puts my own life in danger or gets someone I consider to be _mine_ , hurt.”

“I fear that I can’t agree to that.” Loki tsk’ed gently. “They aren’t going to play fair, Stark. But before you argue, I can offer to put a protection spell on them or create something that can make them disappear from wherever they are if their lives are in danger.”

“That’s generous.” Tony emptied his coffee. “What’s in it for you?”

“Revenge,” Loki replied lightly. “I think you underestimate my desire to see the Titan burned and destroyed, Stark. It doesn’t concern me if I have to protect a few mortals, as long as it aids me in getting to wrap my fingers around his neck.”

 _Revenge_. Yep, that resonated strongly with Tony. “And you want what in return for making these… protection disappearance stuff thingies?”

“Nothing.” Loki rolled his eyes. “I thought you were listening, Stark.”

“Nothing comes for free,” Tony argued.

“If you don’t want it, then say so. I can save myself the effort and stay here.”

“You don’t want to get out?”

“Oh, I do. But getting out can wait until Thanos is here or longer. It is not yet decided.”

Tony looked up to the ceiling. Back to Loki. “All right. I’ll take it if you don’t want anything in return for those protection amulets.”

“Amulets.” Loki frowned. “If that’s what you wish. I was thinking of something more suitable to your current fashion but—”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Now, what do I need to do to get you out of there?”

“Not much, I fear.” Loki walked closer to the mirror, lifted his hand, and put it against the mirror.

Tony lifted his almost automatically and pressed it against Loki’s.

The mirror felt warm beneath his palm. He felt like he was cast as an actor in a cliché movie about saving the love of his life, had some incredible cheesy dialogue scenes written for him and in the background, classic music was playing. Something tender and romantic, maybe Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture.

Yes. Extremely romantic. Explosions _were_ the best thing you could have on a date. Admittedly, that was his own biased opinion but hey. Who was the expert here? Certainly not Loki.

“And now what?” Tony asked.

“Do be quiet for a moment longer,” Loki said almost _gently_. That was _weird_ as hell. Then, he closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the gorgeous art by nonexistenz [ and leave her some love too!! ❤️😭](https://nonexistenz.tumblr.com/post/641736892909551616/drew-this-as-part-of-the-marvelreversebigbang)


	6. Chapter 6

**+1**

The moment Loki disappeared from view and the mirror only showed only his own reflection was a moment Tony knew he’d never forget. On one hand. it was unnerving to see his own self again when he was ‘used’ to seeing Loki in there – and what did that say about him, being used to Loki’s visage after just a few days? But on the other, it was fascinating to see Loki _vanish_ within the blink of an eye and speak up behind Tony, asking him if he was always looking into mirrors for a long time or if he had something inside of his nose.

But there was Loki. Standing behind him with a grin and making him promise on some Norns to keep his word and not to betray him. For as long as they were allies, at least. Tony had no idea what the Norns were but JARVIS, bug free be his coding, had informed him that they were some high thing for the Norse people.

But that was all been and done, and since then Tony had a Norse villain beneath his roof who did his best at helping him to get rid of other villains.

Also, Loki was amazing at keeping the house free of spiders.

_“I don’t like them anywhere in my vicinity,”_ Loki had said after Tony had spotted one of those eight-legged arachnids in his workshop. _“They are better off somewhere outside.”_

_“You’re afraid of them, aren’t you?”_

Loki had looked at him as if he’d gone mad. _“I’m not afraid of them, Stark. But why would I want to have them around me when I can be rid of them?”_

That had made sense. Somehow. Tony still believed that Loki secretly was afraid of them but he’d let the poor guy have his illusions.

Apart from that? They were surprisingly successful at tackling stuff and getting things done. It wasn’t as if they clicked from moment one on — Tony was used to working alone, doing his things in one go, hated being interrupted. Loki loved working alone too. They both forgot that they were working together and decided what to do on a whim — which resulted in them clashing later.

Communication wasn’t their _forte_ , one could say. 

Despite all that though, they still managed to get their shit together and work on their force field as a team. Tony had purchased a satellite and got it into space — he sold it to Pepper as a… well, Hulk-containing-flying-armour-satellite that he named Veronica. She didn’t ask. Not really.

She probably believed he’d gone mad again as he did every other day and signed the papers Tony needed. Also, NASA was more than happy to have Stark Industries tech orbiting around in space because hey— there’d been an _alien invasion_ coming from space. They only wanted to know their poor employees were safe too. It was a done deal for all of them. Just hilarious considering that the idea had come from Loki.

Not surprising though because over the time they spent together, Tony realised that Loki was more clever than he let on. On occasion, it appeared to him that Loki _deliberately_ kept his genius back as if not to shoo Tony away.

“You know, if you deliberately hold out on me with your brain, I might just have to kill you,” Tony announced to his… _partner_ , in the lab as he and DUM-E created the Miniature Death Star.

“Are you threatening me, Stark?” Loki asked him smoothly.

“No.” Tony threw the other a grin. “Just letting you know where you stand. It’s called being _deliberate_ with information and making friends.”

“Friends,” Loki repeated. The disbelief in his voice wasn’t lost on Tony but he didn’t comment on it. “Are you always eager to become friends with your enemies, Stark?”

“No.” Tony raised the screwdriver in his hand and pointed it at Loki. “But you’re not my enemy at the moment, are you?”

Loki didn’t reply to that but Tony noticed that Loki became less… _guarded_ with what he said.

He also noticed how he himself became more comfortable with Loki. Sometimes he forgot that what they had was nothing more than a tentative alliance; they weren’t a _team_. And as soon as the Chitauri hassle was over, they’d return to status quo — Avenger versus villain. But it was so easy to forget that.

There was a memorable moment when Loki – albeit reluctantly, that asshole – told him about the way his magic – he called it seiðr – worked, and what it would do with Tony’s technology and how it would fuse together. Tony listened attentively. He _had_ said that he loved the idea of magic, hadn’t he? And if Loki was any good at what he did with it, then it was a matter of training to control it which meant that theoretically Tony could learn it too, right?

“Seiðr comes from Yggdrasil, Stark.” Loki’s faint smile made Tony feel like he was being mocked. Somewhat affectionately but that was weird to think about too. “If you don’t share some kind of affinity with her, then I fear, you cannot tap into her sources and draw from her any seiðr.”

“Rude,” Tony replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Could I draw the magic from you though? Just, theoretically.”

“Of course.” Loki’s smile grew wider. “But that would mean I’d let you touch my own resources and—” Loki’s look turned wicked, “—unless I get to know more about your glowing heart, I fear that won’t be a made and done deal.”

“Rude,” Tony repeated. “Wait—”

“Yes?”

Tony squinted at Loki. “You’d let me… _touch_ your resources and teach me how to do magic—”

“Seiðr,” Loki interrupted him with a laugh.

“And in return you want to know about my arc reactor?”

“Yes,” Loki replied. His eyes rested on Tony. They shone hungrily, like a wolf who’d found something that he liked to see and devour.

Fascinatingly enough, it made Tony imagine putting his hand inside Loki’s jaw.

To quote someone special, Tony had absolutely no sense of self-preservation and his survival instincts were so low, that he didn’t register in what kind of danger he was in until the danger had passed and he’d survived. Somehow.

This was one of those moments. The Pepper inside of Tony’s head was asking him if he was aware what level of stupidity he was committing here — But Tony didn’t care. Didn’t listen.

“Let’s do it, Reindeer Games,” Tony said and for some reason, he found his voice sounding hoarser than before. “Teach me how to do awesome magic-mumbo-jumbo.”

He saw surprise flitter across Loki’s face and for a second, he looked almost vulnerable to Tony. Somewhere far away, he was wondering if Loki had suggested this only as a joke, that he didn’t think Tony would accept. But Tony wasn’t one to let an opportunity slip through his knowledge-greedy fingers.

Loki was an ancient tome of knowledge on two legs and _fuck,_ it made Tony want to know it all. To read Loki, to listen to him, to understand. Hadn’t he just thought he wanted to put his hand inside Loki’s metaphorical jaws? Tony had the suspicion that his hand had been in danger of being bitten off for a long time already and now he was just accepting that he could easily be devoured fully and whole.

Loki took Tony’s hands in his. His palms were cold to Tony’s touch and in comparison, he felt like a furnace.

“I cannot promise you that it’ll work on the first try.”

“I was a child prodigy, you better damn well believe that I can manage it on the first try.”

Loki’s eyes were sparkling in the light, dancing with mischief. A challenging tone sneaked into his voice, rose Tony’s hackles. “So was I, Stark, and I had a natural affinity to Yggdrasil from the moment I took my first breath.”

“Well, sorry to tell you that I’ll outdo you there, Prancer.” He squeezed Loki’s fingers. “Let’s go. What do I need to do?”

“Nothing.”

The answer threw Tony off. But before he could ask for clarification, his fingertips started burning.

“Don’t look down,” Loki admonished him, and his tone made Tony listen. His eyes were on Loki’s, impossibly green and shining brilliantly.

Tony’s fingertips were still burning. It felt like flames were licking at them, a savage kiss, brutal and leaving a tingling feeling screaming for more. Screaming as were his veins as the flames or _whatever_ it was, spread inside of his body. Raced along his veins, felt like it _became_ his veins, and his blood was boiling—

He was glad he didn’t have to do anything.

Tony wasn’t sure if he was capable of even moving his fingers. Loki’s grip was too strong and kept him in his place.

Eventually, Tony felt like his whole body was burning. If he could, then he’d get up now and run — and he had the suspicion that nothing would stop him from outrunning a Ferrari.

“How do you feel?”

“Fast,” Tony responded without thinking. His hands still were trapped in Loki’s. He didn’t mind. Only wanted to wiggle his fingers around a bit. Just—

“Do you _want_ to set my clothes afire?”

“I— _what?”_ Tony stared at Loki, uncomprehendingly.

Loki pointed Tony to look at his hands. He did.

There _were_ flames flickering on his fingertips. Nowhere near as impressive as Tony would have wanted it to be but hey—

_Shit, he was burning—_

“Calm yourself, Stark.” Loki was laughing. The bastard was _laughing_. “Nothing will happen to you for as long as you keep holding my hand.”

“I’m— why?”

“Because if I let go of you now, you’ll lose control over the flames.” Loki threw him a scolding look. “Your body is exceptionally hungry for energy, Stark. Maybe drink less caffeine if you can help it.”

“Is that bad?” Tony wiggled with his fingers, fascinated all of a sudden by the small dancing movements the flames did as well. “That’s seriously cool though.”

“You’re drawing your energy from me.”

“And?”

“Do you feel like exploding yet?” Loki asked, perfectly innocent. “If you have too much seiðr inside of you and don’t use it, people tend to burn it all out.”

“Less cool.” Tony squinted at Loki. “Are you fucking with me?”

“No.”

“Aww.” Tony stared at his burning fingers. “Okay but what else can I do with that?”

“For now? _Nothing._ Preferably.” Loki sounded stressed out. “Not for as long as you can’t gauge how much energy you’re taking from me.”

“What do I do with the excessive energy anyway?”

“Give it back to me.”

“Okay. How?” Tony started to have trouble with sitting still. He _wanted_ to get up and move, run around. Burn the energy. Everything inside of him was screaming at him to do it. Perhaps this was the beginning of the explosion part Loki had kindly neglected to mention earlier.

The answer was less verbal than Tony would have expected it to be. It was rather kiss-y and surprising. Also, it felt rather good. Loki’s inherent coldness was nice and a good… _thing_ for Tony’s own hotness. It already made him forget how to think.

The kiss was rather chaste, and Tony felt himself growing calmer. Less like he was going to race against a Ferrari and explode at the end of the run. No. He leaned more into the kiss, had Loki steal all his energy back. It was such a weird thing to think.

But eventually, they were done and the tingling and burning inside of Tony vanished.

“Do you always kiss people when you want to save them?”

“No.” Loki released his hold on Tony’s hand.

“Awww, am I special?”

“I usually don’t share my seiðr resources with others, Stark.”

“Hey, we kissed. I think you’re entitled to call me _Tony_ now.”

“Tony,” Loki repeated dryly.

“Damn right. _Loki._ ”

And that was how they definitely didn’t talk about the kiss that was no kiss and only a way to stop Tony from exploding and killing Loki (probably) by sheer coincidence.

Instead, Tony asked if they could do it again and at Loki’s bewildered look, he clarified, “Magic. You and me. Hand holding. That.”

“Not today.”

“Did you think I was asking you if I could kiss you again?” Tony asked. He was genuinely curious.

Loki nodded slowly.

“Cool,” Tony replied and then did what one did when you talked about kissing: he leant forward and kissed Loki. Spur of the moment. Brain got hacked. Loki was handsome. Tony liked kissing people. Tony had _just learned magic—_

He was totally allowed to do things spontaneously and if Loki was in the same boat? Tony saw no reason to stop himself; he’d crossed multiple lines anyway when he’d agreed on getting Loki out of the mirror and working together with him. Also, the fact that Loki was a good kisser didn’t help Tony in making him feel as if he was committing a grave mistake. No.

He buried a hand in Loki’s hair, pulled the other one closer and tilted his head to avoid their noses bumping together. He could feel Loki laughing into the kiss, his breath warmer than his lips were, the laughter almost inaudible. It sent goosebumps down Tony’s arms, and he didn’t want to stop kissing Loki.

They didn’t talk about what they did. Not because they were embarrassed or anything – Tony wasn’t, he couldn’t speak for Loki though – but eventually, he needed to hold up his end of the deal. It soured the mood, there weren’t any comforting kisses, Tony got drunk in the middle of it and Loki listened.

One could say, _fun times were being had._

They made progress on their Mini Death Star. Tony introduced Loki to the Star Wars saga because as it turned out, Loki didn’t get the reference and _hey_ , Tony wouldn’t stand for that. He didn’t care if Loki ended up hating the saga or not, but he needed to _understand_.

Loki developed something akin to a crush on Chewbacca.

Tony didn’t bother commenting on that, but he made sure that when the next movie started, he wrapped himself in a sheep’s fur and did Chewbacca sounds.

All in all? Tony would say that they were making progress.

Odin was wonderfully silent and Loki admitted to him that he was hiding himself from Heimdall’s gaze so Odin didn’t _know_ yet that Loki was free. Scary, if Tony bothered to think about it. But his hedonistic streak told him to leave it be and enjoy the time he had with Loki.

There was _a lot_ of snark, a lot of _surprise! It’s a kiss_ , and much more magic to be had. By now, Tony had managed to light a candle on his own without feeling like he was going to explode any second. And if Loki wasn’t such an emotionally constipated asshole, then he’d tell Tony how proud he was of him. He didn’t, though, so Tony took the kisses as a silent praising gesture and he made sure to show Loki in turn, how _proud_ he was that Loki was proud of him and on occasion, they ended up on some floor, or a couch, or a bed without any clothes because they were too proud to keep those on and made sure the other knew how proud they were.

Nonetheless, everything changed from one second to the next.

Because _of course_ it did.

Things simply didn’t go easy when you were Tony Stark and obviously even less when you were planning on saving the world.

“ _Sir,_ _something is happening at SHIELD,”_ JARVIS interrupted Loki and him. _“If I can have your attention for a second?”_

“Oh yeah, sure.” 

JARVIS showed them footage of Cap— _running away from SHIELD?_ Tony stared at the hologram, not comprehending what he was seeing there. To say he was stunned would be an understatement. 

“What is happening, Jay?” he asked. 

The AI remained silent for a moment. _“Mr. Rogers has been branded as a traitor to SHIELD.”_

“Steve? A traitor?” Tony turned to Loki. “What do you think?” 

“Unlikely.” Loki’s gaze was still on the hologram. “Your captain is much like Thor. They would rather die than to betray their country.” 

“So, you say there is something foul as well?” 

Loki gave a sharp nod. 

“Oh, fun times.” Tony glared at the screen for a moment longer before he pulled out his phone and dialled Natasha. They hadn’t been in as much contact as a team should but hey— at least he got their phone numbers in a legal way this time.

Nobody answered the call.

Tony didn’t like to admit to that but that was worrisome. Even when hours went by and he was too distracted to be any good for Loki and his world-saving-project. His mind refused to cooperate; the image of Steve running and being considered fair game by SHIELD—

Also, Fury was dead, according to JARVIS and if that wasn’t fucking obvious that something was foul, then Tony didn’t know either. But he couldn’t reach anyone. There was just him, not understanding what was going on, Clint on a mission _somewhere_ ; Natasha and Steve were in an Apple store. He made sure that the cameras didn’t record his teammates when they missed an obvious one installed in the middle of the store. If that helped them to get out of this whole situation alive, then Tony would do exactly that.

That being said, Tony was also rather busy with JARVIS hacking into SHIELD’s database. That part was easy, he’d done that before. Now, the real tricky thing was to dig deeper and see what was _behind_ all that fancy coding.

Loki had fun at his side, tracking Steve and Natasha, and deleting camera footage.

“I feel like you’re having too much fun,” Tony said absently as he stared at the polymorphic engine on his screen. “This isn’t supposed to be funny.”

“I’m wounded, Tony.” Loki’s laugh was like a bolt of electricity. “Can’t you see the mischief this opportunity provides?”

“No?” He turned his head around to look at his ally, ignoring the coding. It wasn’t easily hacked, always changing and evolving– what he needed was to find the right password or be three times faster than the engine itself which was almost impossible, even though JARVIS was helping him out.

“I’m the _enemy,”_ Loki said smoothly. “And yet, here I am, helping to hide them from the other bad guys so they are left alone. They are being played with and at the same time, your organization is being played too.” Loki’s thin lips pulled up into a hungry smile. “It’s been a long time since I had the freedom to do so.”

“Don’t have too much fun, Prancer.” Tony shook his head. “These are still my friends you’re playing with.”

“They won’t come to harm,” Loki replied easily. Then he enlarged a pop-up JARVIS sent to him and read it through. “And another camera is looking the other way now,” he added a few moments later.

Tony gave a nod in acknowledgement, focusing on his own stuff again. The engine was… interesting and challenging, kind of reminded him of the thing they’d put in the latest James Bond movie – which, yes, nice cars. Tony loved cars, James Bond was good for cars. Oh, had he shown Loki his Iron Car yet? The engine kept escaping him. Nothing that Tony and JARVIS did seemed to do the trick – it was like a liquid cat, not substantial, getting away again and again.

He had to admit, engine coding in itself was rather beautiful and complex, and it _did_ make Tony cackle that the author of the first engine had named themselves _Dark Avenger_. Looking towards Loki made him think that perhaps there was a different type of dark avenger with him who defied law and order – SHIELD or whatever it was behind those annoying walls – to contribute to the good cause but wouldn’t be named. Like those guys who were hired in secret, nobody knew about, but were there to help to topple a regiment or a movement. On occasion, also to help to build one up from scratch.

“You’re thinking too loud,” Loki remarked.

“You’re a dark Avenger,” Tony muttered, brows furrowed.

“…An interesting choice for a title.”

Tony waved him off. “I’ll explain later. But it has to do with this asshole here.”

“Flattering,” Loki commented dryly.

“Only the best for you, honey.” Tony squinted at the code. Then — “Oh, that’s just plain rude,” he complained and rotated the letters so that the list of word brackets formed the word “Hail Hydra”. It had been pure coincidence that those had been so close together and made him see it.

The code dissolved. SHIELD’s walls broke down and revealed a skull with tentacles behind it.

“Hideous,” Loki commented.

“That’s Hydra.” Tony felt as if someone had punched breath out of his body. Things were starting to assemble in his head— “They’re running from HYDRA.”

“That means?”

“That they’re clever not to trust us,” Tony said slowly. “Because I made things for SHIELD and with Fury being dead, SHIELD being HYDRA — Paints a rather ugly picture of me too.” He nodded imperceptibly. “Seems like there is something of a brain in Steve’s head, after all.”

“Your friends have gone off-grid,” Loki informed him a second later.

“Good for them,” Tony replied and threw what he had on the monitor on a larger hologram so Loki could read along too. “Now, let’s see what HYDRA is planning on doing.”

Nothing good, that much was certain.

“There,” Loki eventually said and pointed at something.

_Project Insight._ Tony’s eyes wandered over each line. Cold dread was settling in his gut as he learned about the project which aimed not only to eliminate him but also dozens, if not _hundreds_ of others. _Fuck,_ was the only thought.

“JARVIS, get— try to figure out who these people are,” he said into the silence. “Warn them that somethi—”

The hologram flashed up in dark red.

**_SYSTEM_BREACH_ **

“Oh no—” Tony threw himself around, his fingers back on the keyboard before he’d realised he’d shoved Loki out of the way. “Get out of there, Jay. I’ll—” he bit on his lips, shoving the words back inside. He needed that energy to remove all the traces of JARVIS out of HYDRA’s server. That was— _priority._

“Something is happening at the WSC too,” Loki informed him. “Your friends must be back at work.”

“Good for them,” Tony gritted out. “Keep an eye on those helicarriers, Loki.”

“Wouldn’t destroying them from here be more beneficial?” Loki asked.

“Probably.” Tony had done most of the work already. JARVIS was already ‘back’ and tried to keep Tony’s own system up. But he got the sinking feeling that it would crumble in a few minutes. “But if Steve and Natasha are at the WSC, where Pierce is, then they have something planned.”

“You’re trusting them?”

“I have to,” Tony said. The words felt like iron on his tongue, heavy and cold. Weighed him down where Iron usually would lift him up. “If they get to JARVIS, then—” A nervous laugh broke free from Tony. “Then they have access to everything. How to create an Artificial Intelligence like JARVIS and use it for their own gain, access to weapon blueprints that _nobody_ should be allowed to see, including our very own. If JARVIS falls, then they can do _everything_ and they won’t even need me for that.”

Tony refused to call the growing feeling _panic_. He had this under control.

The warning on the hologram disappeared.

Tony breathed out a sigh of relief.

“We good, buddy?”

“ _Splendid, Sir.”_

“Quite bored though,” Loki added.

Tony snorted. “Of course.”

Loki threw him a salacious wink.

For a second Tony allowed himself to relax, considering himself at a level of safety and business dealt with. In fact, he was already putting together a party list which consisted of Loki, JARVIS, himself, and a lot of pizza and fruits he’s never seen before only to make it more interesting. DUM-E would rock the music and U would serve the drinks, everyone was going to be happy and there’d be a lot of food, happy faces, maybe some making out afterwards. This totally counted in his books as a victory and those needed to be celebrated.

But of course, that was when Loki looked down at this own screen again and said, “Project Insight is going online.”

“Oh, _c’mon!”_ Tony groaned. Then, “ _Fuck!”_ After all, HYDRA was after a bunch of people, weren’t they?

The most horrible thing about this? He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t hack into HYDRA’s server for obvious reasons because he couldn’t allow JARVIS to be jeopardised. But he couldn’t stand here either so —

“Get my suit ready,” he gritted out. “Then we’ll shoot those helicarriers down.”

“Chaos,” Loki almost sang and he did a weird thing with his hands —

The Iron Man suit assembled seamlessly around Tony’s body. He was gaping at Loki, not quite— _His suits_ never _came flying so fast._

“Ready to go?” Loki sounded almost bored to his ears. “There are helicarriers to be destroyed, after all.”

“You just want to commit arson,” Tony accused the other breathlessly, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.

“As do you, don’t bother denying it.”

“ _He’s making a good point,”_ JARVIS cut in.

Tony agreed quietly, grabbed Loki around the waist and shot off — straight through the window.

Loki was laughing in his grip, the sound loud and almost maniacal to Tony’s ears. 

But they needed to hurry up—

He kicked into his thrust boosters, speeding up immensely until they broke the sonic barrier. They shouldn’t need long to the other side of the continent—

_“Do you trust me?”_ Loki’s voice rang like silk through Tony’s head.

Trust him. Was he trusting Loki? Tony felt like he was standing at a path that led into two different directions and the ground beneath his feet was turning into lava. He didn’t have time to debate, he was aware of that. A fraction of him wanted to say _no, he wasn’t as stupid as he occasionally came of as._ But he had _chosen_ to take Loki with him to DC; hadn’t left him waiting at the mansion until Tony would come back. Because— they were more than just allies at this point, weren’t they? This didn’t feel any longer like it was something they’d only had while their deal was on. No— 

Tony _trusted_ Loki.

“Yes.”

Warmth rolled through Tony’s mind, as if Loki was appreciating his answer.

A rift opened in front of Tony, the edges of it shining in a green and golden light. It was obvious where this was coming from. Tony sped right through it without thinking of any possible consequences.

He’d said he trusted Loki. This was him, standing true to his words and proving them. His hope that Loki wasn’t leading him astray, was proven right a heartbeat later when they fell from the sky. Below them, at a respectable distance, was the Potomac river.

“Amazing!” was all that Tony said before he let them both _plummet_ from the sky.

The helicarriers were just launching.

_They were in time. Could still save everyone from HYDRA—_

The helicarriers caught fire out of nowhere, without any of them doing _anything_. 

“What—”

Loki turned his head around to stare at the flames. “Those could be more impressive.”

As if they had heard him, the flames stoke higher into the sky and the helicarriers started to fall from the sky.

Tony watched with hold breath until he saw them crashing to the ground, being eaten by the flames.

_Project Insight was no more._

They arrived back at the mansion a few seconds later.

“Okay,” Tony said as soon as he had ground beneath his feet again, “but we’re done for now, right? I say that we are.”

Loki hummed thoughtfully. “There’ll be repercussions,” he began, and Tony groaned. “People will demand answers and justice. An explanation how this even came to be in the first place.”

“No,” Tony decided harshly. “No. I do not want that. Steve can take care of that.”

“Aren’t you the speaker for the team?” Loki asked him.

“Not anymore, no.” Tony shrugged. “I’m stepping back from speaking.”

“I doubt that’ll work on them.”

“Well, smartass, what’s your idea then?”

Loki grinned at him. Waved with a hand. “I know a place where nobody will bother us if we decided to… take a break from this _dimension_ and keep on working somewhere else.”

Tony stared at the mirror that had appeared a few feet away from him. “We can take the bots and JARVIS with us, right?”

“I don’t see why not.” Loki chuckled.

Excitement was spreading through Tony. “What are we waiting for then? _On y va!”_

He took Loki’s offered hand and let himself be led through the mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... aka five times Tony sees Loki in a mirror, +1 time he's in a mirror himself :P 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it! It's been lotsa fun for me ehehee 🥰


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